Restaurateur Lives the American Dream

THERE is no longer a restaurant that bears the Livanos family name. But John Livanos has left his mark on dining in Westchester, most notably as owner of the City Limits Diner, which with its Art Deco look and sophisticated menu most people find is not a typical diner.

Actually, there are two City Limits, one at the foot of Tarrytown Road and Central Avenue adjacent to the County Center in White Plains, the other at The Westchester mall. . They are two of three restaurants the Livanos family owns in Westchester, the other being Cafe Meze on Central Avenue in Hartsdale. The family also has two restaurants in Manhattan: Oceana and their newest establishment, Molyvos.

For the Greek-born Mr. Livanos, 61, who came to the United States illegally in 1957 by jumping ship and worked as a dishwasher, it is the American dream come true. Today, his wife, Chrysa, and their children, John, Nick, Bill and Corina, are all actively involved in the business.

Here are excerpts from a conversation with Mr. Livanos, a resident of Garden City on Long Island:

Q. Why are so many diners owned by people of Greek descent?

A. Through the years for the first immigrants who came from Greece it was the easiest job to go to a restaurant and start as a dishwasher. Some went to the flower business and some to the fur business, but mostly they went to the restaurants. The first ones who started as dishwashers then became cooks and chefs and pretty soon they had their own little luncheonette.

And then a lot of people's friends came, and who were they going to work for? The Greeks. So that's how we multiplied. At one time in the late 50's, late 60's, 90 percent of the coffee shops and luncheonettes in Manhattan were owned by Greeks. Not anymore, because of the new generation, the second and third generation. A lot of sons and daughters don't want to continue the father's hard work in the restaurant so they went and became lawyers or doctors.

Everybody wants to go do something else. Very few stayed in the family business. Also, as we promoted ourselves from the little luncheonette to a coffee shop to a diner to a restaurant, some didn't mind staying. Like my sons. They would never stay in just an ordinary diner or coffee shop. I had to open a more sophisticated, more upscale restaurant.

Q. Why did you came to the United States?

A. In 1957 I was in the Greek Merchant Marine, to become a captain. I was not too happy with the style of life. While in the United States, I changed ships, so I got 29 days from the U.S. immigration to get to the other ship. But I had a relative here, so I decided to stay here. But I was not legal. After that I became legal.

Q. Was that scary not being legal?

A. It was very scary because in those days Immigration used to chase you. There were a lot of immigrants who jumped ship from all over, from Italy, Greece, China. You had to get married or do something, get a relative to fill out the applications, to keep you here as a student or something like that.

Q. How did you get to stay?

A. I got married. She was an American citizen and she kept me here.

Q. Did you marry just for citizenship?

A. No, I loved her -- look how long we've been together. In those days there were a lot of phony marriages. You would pay a woman $2,000 and simultaneously when you got married at City Hall there was someone to sign divorce papers. But I didn't want to do that.

Q. So you met her with the intention of staying married?

A. That's right. We got married in 1958. We were also relatives. My uncle was a cousin to her father. That's how we met. It was not just a relationship of strangers; there were relatives involved.

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Q. In those days, people socialized more with those of their own ethnic background, correct?

A. Yes, of course. There was a very strong intention to get married with your own kind -- unless it was a phony marriage and you didn't care. In other words, you didn't see too many Greek guys marry Greek girls with the intention of leaving them.

Q. Did you always have the American dream?

A. Yes. That's why I jumped the ship. I met a few Greeks in this business and was very excited and enthused because after five, six, seven, eight years they owned their own luncheonette. My dream was to come to this country before I went into the merchant marine, but it was not easy.

A. The island of Lesbos. The village I was born in was Molyvos. It's a small fishing village. Beautiful. Right now it's mostly a tourist attraction. I've named my new Greek restaurant in Manhattan Molyvos.

Q. Why did you make City Limits the type of diner it is, with its decor?

A. I was in the diner business before. I owned at one time three or four diners, but they were regular diners -- open 24 hours, with a long menu, and the quality was not there. So with my sons coming into the picture, and after they graduated from college, going to the Culinary Institute, we didn't want to continue that type of restaurant. We wanted to be upscale. But we wanted to use the word diner, so in this way we would attract everybody at dinner time. From there we opened Livanos Restaurant in 1985. And then we went to Manhattan and opened one of the most successful seafood restaurants in New York, Oceana. And my dream was always to open a Greek restaurant. So I looked hard to find the right location, the right space, and I did with Molyvos on Seventh Avenue between 55th and 56th Streets.

Q. You live on Long Island. Why did set up shop in Westchester?

A. I had always heard so much about Westchester, with all its offices and corporate headquarters. My sons now live in Westchester. So I found the corner of Tarrytown Road and Central Avenue about 18 years ago. As soon as I saw it, I fell in love with it. I bought it while I was still operating one of the most successful diners in Brooklyn. When my sons graduated college and then went to the Culinary Institute, I came up with the idea to build Livanos.

Q. Why did you change the original Livanos?

A. We did beautiful business, but not enough to our standards. The place was huge. On weekdays we were not that busy. So Livanos was a beautiful idea, but not for the size of the place. So we went looking to find a small place and found this place a mile down in Hartsdale. We converted it from scratch to Livanos because we felt people knew our name. Then we thought to convert to a Mediterranean restaurant because in Manhattan in the last 6 years, 30 Mediterranean restaurants have opened. We thought to be the first to introduce Mediterranean cuisine in Westchester, that it would be unique. That's how Cafe Meze came to be.

Q. Why do so many restaurants come and go?

A. Restaurants are a tough business and a lot of people are not prepared for that. They don't have the money to back the restaurant in case they have some problems. In the last 10 years change has taken over the restaurant business. So unless you are unique for what you're doing and you are on top of it, you cannot succeed.

Q. What are those changes?

A. The competition, No. 1. I will give you an example. Since I came here to Westchester with the original Livanos, more than a dozen restaurants opened on Central Avenue. From here all the way down to Yonkers. On top of the competition, you have to be innovative, to change menus, to come up with new ideas. The public is more educated than ever before. They are eating out more nowadays. You have to make changes and use the best ingredients -- everything fresh.

Q. What's ahead for you?

A. Right now we're going to slow down a little bit. With five restaurants we have our hands full. We're not thinking of opening another restaurant right now.